The Book of Daniel - Number Seventy-Four

The four abominations of Ezekiel chapter eight, lead to the leadership of God’s last day Laodicean church bowing down to the sun, and thus receiving the mark of the beast. The next chapter, which is the same vision, illustrates those in God’s last day church who receive the seal of God. Sister White informs us the sealing of Ezekiel chapter nine, is the same as the sealing represented in Revelation chapter seven. God judges a nation in its third and fourth generation, and the four abominations of Ezekiel identify the four generations of rebellion that began in 1863, when Laodicean Adventism introduced a counterfeit of the two tables of Habakkuk which had been given as a symbol of the covenant relationship between God and His people, just as the two tables of the Ten Commandments had been given at the beginning of ancient Israel.

Aaron’s golden calf, was a counterfeit image, the symbol of rebellion that was manifested just as God was producing the two tables that represent a genuine image of jealousy. Aaron’s golden calf typified the counterfeit 1863 chart, which had removed the “seven times,” of Leviticus twenty-six from the message along with other time-prophecies. Thus, Laodicean Adventism set up an image of jealousy in the very beginning of its history, as Aaron had done in the beginning history of ancient Israel, and as Jeroboam had done in the beginning history of the northern kingdom of Ephraim.

The “seven times,” of Leviticus twenty-six was the first prophecy of time which Miller was led to understand, and it was the first jewel of prophetic time set aside in the rebellion of 1863. 1863 marked the beginning of the covering up of the jewels of Miller’s dream and the introduction of counterfeit jewels and coins. The “seven times,” was the cornerstone that the builders rejected. In 1863 it was those who had been the builders of the Millerite temple that set aside the cornerstone of the “seven times,” but in the last days that stone is now the head of the corner. That stone represented the Rock of Ages, and it also was represented by the day which the Lord had made, for it was a symbol of the sabbath rest for the land. In 1844, Millerite Adventism rebuked Jeroboam’s false system of worship, and separated from “the assembly of mockers” who had “rejoiced” over the first disappointment.

The builders were instructed to never return to “the assembly of mockers,” as the Judean prophet had been instructed to return to Jerusalem by a different path than what had led him to 1844. The path that had led him to 1844, was the path he had come out of, which was Protestantism, and in that history Protestantism had become apostate Protestantism. The builders were commanded to never return to “the assembly of mockers,” and they were instructed to not eat their food or drink their water. The builders had eaten the little book that was in the angel’s hand in 1840, and that food was sweet in their mouths.

The eating and drinking of prophecy represents the methodology used to study the Bible. The Millerites were given a specific way to study God’s Word, and those rules produced a totally different biblical message than the theologians of apostate Protestantism and Catholicism produced with their corrupted methodology. The builders, who are also the Judean prophet, were not to return and eat or drink of the methodology of either apostate Protestantism or Catholicism. The Judean prophet did that very thing, thus identifying that Laodicean Adventism would do that very thing in 1863, for in 1863, they employed the theological arguments of apostate Protestantism to reject Miller’s application of the “seven times,” and thus set up Aaron’s and Jeroboam’s images of jealousy. The first generation of Laodicean Adventism had then begun.

After the prophet from Judea interacted with Jeroboam he started on his journey back to Judea, but he never made it. The prophet represents Laodicean Adventism, which, according to inspiration, arrived into the Millerite movement in 1856. Sister White never backed away from identifying Adventism as Laodicea, and there is no biblical evidence that Laodicea ever changes. There are individuals that leave their own personal Laodicean experience, but as a church Laodicea is to be spewed out of the mouth of the Lord, for Laodicea means “a people judged.” Adventism uses the definition to claim it represents the church that exists during the period of the judgment in the heavenly sanctuary. In their blindness they acknowledge the Investigative Judgment element of the meaning of Laodicea, but cannot see the Executive Judgment that is clearly represented in their name.

The Judean prophet ends up buried with the false prophet who deceived him into eating his food and drinking his drink. They both end up in the same grave, and the lying prophet of Bethel (the counterfeit church), calls him brother when he dies.

The second angel’s message in the summer of 1844, consisted of identifying that the Protestant churches had fallen and become the daughters of Catholicism. Millerite Adventism had called men and women to leave those denominations for to stay in them meant spiritual and eternal death. The lying prophet of Bethel represents the religious system instituted in Bethel by Jeroboam. It was a system that set up an image to the beast, and the beast that was copied is the beast of Catholicism. The Protestants continued to identify themselves as Protestants, but they also continued to observe the day of the sun as the day of worship which is the mark of Catholicism’s authority.

The Protestants claim to be Protestants, though the only definition of Protestant is to protest Rome, and in so doing their profession is an image of the Roman church, for she professes to be a Christian institution, though she has no biblical justification for the claim. Her claim is based upon the empty authority of tradition and custom, which is the same false authority Protestantism employs as they claim to be Protestants. It is the same logic that had blinded Seventh-day Adventists to believe that as Laodiceans, they are still in a secure covenant relationship. It is the same false authority that ancient Israel proclaimed when they stated, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we.”

In 1863 the movement of the Millerites ended, but it had ceased to be a movement of Philadelphians in 1856. The rejection of the message of Moses (the “seven times”), that was presented by Elijah (William Miller) was rejected, and the rejection was based upon the methodology of the lying prophet of Bethel. 1863 was the end of sixty-five years that had began in 1798, and was the end of the prophecy of Isaiah chapter seven.

The sixty-five-year prophecy of verse eight, identifies that “within” the period of sixty-five years the northern kingdom of the ten tribes would be taken into captivity. The vision was recorded in the year 742 BC, and nineteen years later in 723 BC, Ephraim was scattered and taken into captivity by the Assyrians. In 677 BC, at the end of the sixty-five years king Manasseh was captured and carried into Babylon. The starting point in 742 BC, marks a civil war between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdoms of Israel, just as 1863, marks the very center of the Civil War in the United States between the North and South. The prophecy was proclaimed by Isaiah in the literal glorious land (Judah), and the prophecy of 1863 was fulfilled in the spiritual glorious land (the United States).

There are three waymarks within the sixty-five-year prophecy. The civil war of 742 BC, is followed in nineteen years by the scattering of the northern kingdom, in 723 BC. At the end of the sixty-five years the southern kingdom was scattered. The prophecy, including its beginning and ending, represents both “indignations” of God against the northern and southern kingdoms, and those two indignations are preceded by nineteen years at their starting points, and then followed by another nineteen years that follow their fulfillments.

The entire chiastic structure identifies a period of civil war between north and south that marks the beginning and ending. In the midst of the beginning and ending the two antagonists of the civil war were both carried into slavery, and in the sixty-five years that they are gathered out of their mutually scattered condition of slavery into one nation, they arrive at 1863, which is the date of the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The prophecy of a civil war in literal Judah concludes at the civil war in spiritual Judah, for Jesus always illustrates the end of a thing, with the beginning of a thing, for He is Alpha and Omega.

The history of 1863 was represented by the history of 742 BC, when the prophet Isaiah, along with his son, delivered a message to the wicked king of Judah (Ahaz). 742 BC in the passage is represented by the testimony of king Ahaz, who was king of Judah and who had shut down God’s sanctuary service and had his high priest erect a model of a Syrian temple in the very precincts of God’s earthly sanctuary.

In the history of wicked king Ahaz (marked as 742 BC by the prophecy of Isaiah), the leader of Jerusalem introduced the worship of paganism (Catholicism) into God’s church, just as Laodicean Adventism returned to the methodology of apostate Protestantism to discard the message of Moses that had been delivered by Elijah. In 742 BC, Isaiah confronted the wicked king of Judah at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the fuller’s field, and he brought his son with him when he did. His son’s name was a sign, and when the prophet from Judah confronted king Jeroboam, he also gave him a sign.

The name of Isaiah’s son “Shearjashub,” means “a remnant shall return.” Those that “return” who make up the remnant, are those who wait for the Lord during the tarrying time.

When Isaiah interacts with wicked king Ahaz in 742 BC, he represents those who have “waited,” for all the prophets are speaking of the last days, and those who “wait” in the last days are those who have suffered the first disappointment. Jeremiah thought God had lied, and withheld the rain, and Isaiah thinks God has hidden “his face from the house of Jacob,” but Isaiah determines that he will wait, and look for the Lord, which represents the “wise” during the tarrying time of the vision. Those that did return and separate the precious from the vile, who were to become God’s mouthpiece were sealed, and therefore contrasted with those who receive the mark of the beast.

We will continue this study in the next article.